WEBVTT
D
COURTROOM AS THE ELECTORS CAST
THEIR BALLOTS.
>> IN ACCORDANCE WITH KENTUCKY'S
POPULAR VOTE, KENTUCKY'S EIGHT
ELECTORS HAVE CAST THEIR VOTE
FOR DONALD TRUMP, THE 45TH
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
AND MIKE PENCE VICE PRESIDENT.
MARK: KENTUCKY EASE ELECTORAL
COLLEGE CONVENED MONDAY AS DID
ELECTORAL COLLEGES ALL ACROSS
AMERICA.
SO, TOO, DID PROTESTERS RALLYING
IN FRANKFORT AS THEY DID ACROSS
THE NATION.
>> IF THE ELECTORS AND IN THE
ELECTORAL COLLEGE, THEIR JOB IS
TO BE SURE THEY COULD OVERRIDE
THE POPULAR VOTE IF THEY
DETERMINE THAT THE CANDIDATE
ELECTED BY POPULAR VOTE IS A
DEMOGOGUE OR INFLUENCED BY
FOREIGN POWERS AND IF THAT'S OUR
SITUATION TODAY.
MARK: CEREMONY PROCEEDED THE
ACTUAL VOTE.
[ SINGING ]
GOVERNOR MATT BEVIN SPOKE.
>> IMPERFECT AS IT IS AND AS
IMPERFECT AS ANY POLITICAL
STRUCTURE IN THE HISTORY OF
MANKIND HAS EVER BEEN, IT IS
STILL THE GREATEST FORM OF
GOVERNMENT THAT HAS EVER BEEN
KNOWN.
REPORTER: THE ELECTOR CAST THEIR
BALLOTS ALL FOR TRUMP.
SECRETARY OF STATE ALISON A
DEMOCRAT WOULDN'T ENDORSE THE
WISHES BUT HAD THIS TO SAY.
>> THEIR OPINION AND VOICE
VALUED.
AS THEIR SECRETARY OF STATE AND
CHIEF ELECTION OFFICIALS, I HOPE
EVERYONE REALIZES THE POWER OF
THEIR VOTE.
THAT IS THEIR VOICE.
THAT'S HOW YOU MAKE A
DIFFERENCE.
IT'S NOT JUST EVERY FOUR YEARS,
IT'S EACH AND EVERY DAY OF THE
YEAR.
MARK: THERE'S ONLY ONE ONE TIME
IN WHICH -- THERE'S ONLY BEEN
ONE TIME IN WHICH THEY DIDN'T
CAST THEIR VOTES WITH THE
POPULAR VOTE.

Members of the Electoral College convened at state capitols across the nation Monday to cast their votes for president and vice president of the United States – and numerous protesters called upon the electors to deny Donald Trump the presidency.

Kentucky was no different.

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Mark Vanderhoff

The eight members of Kentucky's electoral college unanimously voted for Donald Trump for President of the United States Monday in Frankfort.

Kentucky’s electors convened at the state Supreme Court and cast their votes for the Republican president-elect, but before that, a few dozen protesters braved the frigid temperatures and gathered on the steps in front of the Capitol building in Frankfort.

“I have four grandchildren and I have never been as worried as I am about my country, never,” said Jackie Harrison of Louisville. “And I have voted for Republicans in the past. But this is the most dangerous situation I have ever seen.”

Harrison held a sign that read, “Please! No Russian President,” a reference to Trump’s controversial support for improved relations with Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin.

Inside the capitol, a Trump supporter held a sign that read, “Clinton is a war criminal.”

“Imperfect as it is, imperfect as any political structure in the history of mankind has ever been, it is still the greatest form of government that has ever been known,” said Gov. Matt Bevin during his speech at the Electoral College meeting.

The hourlong meeting was marked by ceremony and other speeches from state Republican Party Executive Director Mike Biagi and Kentucky Secretary of State Allison Lundergan Grimes.

The casting of the ballots took only a few minutes. Seven men and one woman unanimously upheld Kentucky’s popular voted, in which 1.2 million people voted for Trump, roughly twice the 628,824 people who voted for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

Nationwide, Clinton won the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes.

Protesters like Harrison had hoped at least one of the electors might make a statement and vote against Trump.

“They can override the popular vote, if they determine that the candidate elected by popular vote is a demagogue or influenced by foreign powers and that's our situation today,” Harrison said.

Only once in Kentucky’s history has the Electoral College bucked the state’s popular vote, said state historian Ron Bryant during a speech at the meeting.

In 1836, Kentucky’s electors voted for native son William Henry Harrison for vice president instead of Martin Van Buren, Bryant said.